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Sony HDV decks HVR-25 blown Firewire ports
Four new Sony HDV decks HVR-25 decks shared between 5 Macs, several somke/flame systems via a central machine room.
For HDV work, we take decks to FCP systems connect via Firewire and capture. Over about 2 months all four had firewire ports blown.
Sony service says this happens if deck is connected with power on. So we have the decks fixed.
Now once again 3 have ports blown. Sony says to connect an HDV deck even the Mac power has to be off. Does anyone ever power down a Mac just to connect a Firewire device?
I’ve used a Sony handycam for 5 years without powering down my Mac, my iMac, my PowerBook whatever. And its fine.
My advise to anyone considering a HVR-25 deck. Please note this Firewire issue. If you have networked machines especially.
Neil
FCP Editor, Mumbai, India.
Completely PAL. -
5 Replies
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Thanks for the heads up Neil… Gotta say, I’ve never seen this either…. all FW cameras/decks I’ve ever encountered sure work fine if you connect them to a powered mac as long as the deck is powered down…
Jerry
Apple Certified Trainer
Author: “Jerry Hofmann on Final Cut Pro 4” Click here
Dual 2 gig G5, AJA Kona SD, AJA Kona 2, Huge Systems Array UL3D
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I think that this can help with you with firewire ports killed by ESD.
https://kramer-us.com/indexes/item.asp?name=PT-1FW
The PT-1FW is a line protector for FireWire signals. It is used in Plug and Play applications where constant plugging and unplugging of FireWire equipment can result in permanent damage to sensitive equipment due to ESD (electrostatic discharge). -
I’ve had the M25 for about 6 months. I always have the deck power off before connecting the FW to a computer. Fortunately for us, we’ve had no problems as of yet. But thanks for the heads-up.
Good luck,
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We have a ton of Sony DSR-11’s and DSR-45’s. These decks are constantly moving from room to room depending on what needs to be done. Over the past few years we have had more than our share of firewire “burnouts”.
I think the reason some people have no problem and others do is the care in which you do the “plugging and unplugging”. In our case, we have many different people doing this, and not all of them understand the difference between “Hot swap” and “Cold swap”. I also suspect that some “jamming in backwards or upsidedown” occurs as well.
Firewire is a great concept. The connectors, however, suck.
mark
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I blew the firewire bus on my G5 by hotswapping a DSR11. Now I route all FW devices through a 6 port full matrix switcher. HDD, 2 decks, AJA i/o, all connect to 2 computers through the matrix. No more plugging/unplugging, just push buttons, it’s been working well 6 months. The ESD thingies posted above look good too. From what I’ve read in the past it is sloppy plugging that shorts the connectors and causes the problems.
“everything is broken”
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